Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón will ask a judge to resentence convicted murderers Erik and Lyle Menendez on Friday, potentially giving the pair a shot to go free after nearly 35 years behind bars.
“After very careful review of all the arguments that were made for people on both sides of this equation, I came to a place where I believe that under the law resentencing is appropriate,” Gascón said in a Thursday press conference.
The Menendezes murdered their parents, Jose and Kitty Menendez, in 1989. They were each sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole in 1996. Erik and Lyle Menendez contest that they were driven to kill their parents after years of abuse at Jose’s hands and that evidence of that abuse was kept under wraps during their trial.
Earlier this month, Gascón’s office announced plans to look into new evidence that attorneys for the brothers claimed supported their allegations of long-term abuse.
“We’re going to recommend to the court that life without the possibility of parole be removed,” Gascón said on Thursday. “Under the law, since they were under 26 years of age at the time that these crimes occurred, they would be eligible for parole immediately."
Erik and Lyle Menendez’s case came back into the public eye earlier this year when Ryan Murphy’s “Monsters: The Lyle And Erik Menendez Story” premiered on Netflix. Despite bringing renewed attention to their case, the brothers (and fans alike) were not pleased with “Netflix's dishonest portrayal” of them.
“Is the truth not enough?” Erik Menendez wrote in a September Facebook post. “How demoralizing to know that one man with power can undermine decades of progress in shedding light on childhood trauma.”
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